Lamor Corporation Oyj (GB9.F) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

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Good morning, and welcome to Lamor's Q2 webinar. My name is Tapio Pesola, and with me today, I have our CEO, Johan Gron; as well as our new CFO, Nalle Stenman, who is actually with us here for the first time in these result webinars. Welcome, now.

Thank you.

Next, we'll be going through -- or they will be going through the key takeaways from Q2 as well as the efficiency initiatives we announced this morning and also the focus points for the rest of the year. At the end, we will have the Q&A. So, without further ado, Johan, go ahead.

Thank you. Yes. Welcome to everyone on my behalf too. Just a glimpse of Q2 and what we achieved during the first -- during the second quarter of this year. First of all, I'm very happy with the equipment and small service orders that was at a very good level during Q2. The new orders increased with 49% compared to the comparison period last year. Also, a growth that is driven by the environmental protection technology equipment and also, I would say that continued success in the, let's say, sales and with our own resources and then also the agents that have been successfully now tuned to support our growth in respect to the environmental protection technology sales. Also, very happy with the large -- the orders that we've achieved now from Africa that is connected to our strategic growth initiative and also several other orders that are supporting our strategy at the moment throughout the world. The profitability in H1 is above the comparison period. And however, then that the revenue is below the expectations that is a decline driven by -- or caused by some of the larger impacts in Q2 '24. And also, the revenue recognition from Kuwait that is slightly lower than what was in the comparison period. Adjusted operating profit is close to the comparison period, but the lower revenue level has caused this deviation compared to the comparison period. Overall, the profitability in H1 is better than in previous years, and that we are very happy about. The strategy implementation continues. However, the market that we talked about in the last quarter results meeting is that the market is still volatile and that we all know that has an impact on that part, but we are strengthening our presence in Middle East with the Saudi service center, which is a very important stepping stone for us in proceeding with our strategy. And also, that we have strategic wins in remediation in, for example, in South America and also in Europe, the first one in really remediation project in Europe that we won in Q2, which is a landmark, let's say, step in proceeding with our strategy and spreading in the focus areas. The market demand for environmental protection remains strong. And that is due to the global situation. The risk levels in the maritime hotspots are still at a very high level that we've seen examples of -- during H1, for example. And then also that the global economic outlook is impacting the customers' decision-making, especially then when we are talking about larger initiatives, and that means that the decision point is harder to estimate than previously. So, the timing is getting more weaker in that respect. Strong momentum in the environmental protection part. I think that, that is something that we would like to highlight here is that the, let's say, the quarterly environmental protection revenue, excluding then the large project has been continuously increasing since the beginning of 2023. There are significant technology orders in Q2 and then long service contracts in Q2 that is an example of a decade of customer cooperation that is now continuing. And this is just a couple of examples in Angola and then Peru, where we have, let's say, close to 10 years of -- or over -- it will be now over 10 years of cooperation with these customers. What is then the key drivers to this that we really are strong in the environmental protection part is that globally, the brand is strong, the portfolio is recognized to be very strong and then also the presence is global. So, we are considered as a -- in many areas, we are considered as a local player, and that is becoming more and more important as we go ahead. Just to mention that if you are talking about environmental protection or protecting offshore areas in the Arctic region, Lamor has more than -- or close to 85% of the installed base in respect to protecting, let's say, water areas in the Arctic region. Then also that we have continued actively with ensuring that our own sales is efficiently organized and then also that we have expanding the sales funnel and making sure that we are drawing upon the strong brand portfolio and presence globally. And then also in addition to our own sales force that the agents and distributors, how they are managed, and an example was then Africa, for example, that this is becoming one part of our extended arm globally. Geopolitical risks, as I mentioned, it's getting more and more evident that there is a there is a strong push to make sure that the preparedness is taken care of globally. And there is also a push towards a demand for being more local when supporting governments institutions in countries. And a good example of that is why we are then expanding with the service center into Saudi Arabia that will support the GCC market, but this will be the first stepping stone in that sense. And then also that when we are talking about environmental protection technology, it's not only the oil spill response, but another adjacent market that is very important is the water intake protection. When we are talking about large water intakes for desalination purposes or energy production and especially then in the temperate regions around the world. And that's where our technology, our services, our operational capabilities can be deployed, and that's where we now have several examples of that where we are supporting then the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with their strategy around protecting water intakes. Strategical water intakes around the coastal area, both on the Red Sea side and then also on the Arabian Gulf side. Some of the key strategic milestones then. As I mentioned, Middle East strengthened, and that's then the increasing -- ever-increasing installed base in that area and then the requirement also to be more localized that then will be supported by the service center in Saudi Arabia. Then the progress with the agent network that is now starting to bear fruits also in respect to Africa, where this is an example from one of the annual Africa business partner conferences that we are arranging. So, managing, supporting the agents and making sure that they can be equipped to support us in their work. Then also several strategic wins in the soil remediation area, the first remediation project in Europe. And Europe, especially that we can show that we are close to the market also in Europe with our soil remediation expertise and that can be drawn upon in situations where that will be needed in much larger scale. And with the soil remediation part, I would say that we are becoming now a recognized player in that market with the references that we have, world-scale type of references like Kuwait and also in the Amazonas and in Andes, where we've been doing this for years. So, we are a recognized player. And that means that we are -- we are also participating in pre-feasibility studies, so scoping the work before it's being tendered. And that's an important part also in respect to executing our strategy. Then I'm very happy to also to announce that we are very close to the opening ceremony for the Marpol treatment center in Bangladesh. That is now going -- that is now one of the landmark references in respect to Marpol treatment facilities, and that is combined then with oil spill response, so a complete offering around that. So, a great reference in that sense. That has allowed us then to participate in predesigning pre-feasibility study for Marpol projects in other parts of Middle East. And this is something that we know is continuing and that we will push hard for. So, this is again a good example of a strategic partnership with GreenFlow in this case that we are teaming up with to build this complete service for a large port that is then making sure that they can live up to the Marpol certification requirements for the ports. Preparations continuing in Kilpilahti. The overall installation work has progressed very well. And for the full infrastructure, we are talking about gas handling, we are talking about ash handling, we are talking about oil handling and the infrastructure for that in Kilpilahti and the whole complete building, that is progressing very well. And also, that the process equipment for the oil processing where we have, let's say, where we are now doing the testing together with the technology supplier, and we will provide an updated estimate in respect to the start of the production and the finalization of the commissioning work later on during the following quarter. Progress in Kuwait. I would say that the activities in Kuwait is progressing as planned. And that is then not much more to say about that, that it's continuing as planned and other sold remediation projects are continuing in South America, in Ecuador and Oman. So Nalle, you'll talk through the financial update, please.

Thank you, Johan. Good morning, everybody, to our quarter 2 results. I will start by talking a little bit about our revenue and our profitability. As you all can see on the screen, our second quarter revenue was EUR 21.1 million, a little bit more than in last quarter. So that means we made in the first half EUR 40.2 million, which is slightly below or below last year's same period. However, our adjusted EBIT for the first quarter was EUR 1.9 million, our second quarter was EUR 1 million. So cumulatively, we are EUR 2.8 million in adjusted EBIT, which is above last year same period. And the margins are for the first half year, 6.9%. And of course, our -- this quarter, our profitability was a little bit lower in percentage-wise. In first quarter, we had a couple of very, very good margin deliveries. Now the margins were good, but not exceptional. So that's why a little bit lower on the quarter 2. But on big picture, I would say that it is our low turnover or revenue that still affects our profitability because of our cost base, which is quite fixed anyway still. Then we jump to the revenue split, where we look at first on the left-hand side, you have the product portfolio, which is clearly has gone towards these quarters now. This is the first half year, so have gone towards environmental protection and equipment deliveries. Our remediation and restoration business is a smaller portion. We have not got in the beginning of the year or in the last year, new business yet in that part. So, it has lost a little bit of ground. And our recycling business is mainly the -- at the moment, the Bangladesh, which Johan was just mentioning about, where we are just finalizing all the works and our Kilpilahti new operation has yet to be started. That's why our recycling is relatively low. For the equipment and services, just was discussed, our equipment business in environmental protection has been growing. Therefore, the part of the equipment has been growing. In areas, we have a nice -- now a quite nice split. Hopefully, that will remain, but it will grow so that the EUR 40.2 million would be higher, but the split is nice. At least we have 3 legs -- quite even legs to stand-alone. Why EMEA or Middle East and Africa has dropped this because of the service agreements, and we mainly have one big, the Kuwait there, whereas in Eurasia and Americas, we have had quite nice successes in equipment and in a couple of oil spills that happened in South America, which was in the first quarter, quite dominant in turnover. For the order intake, we are happy, of course, with the 49% increase in our second quarter orders, and we reached more than EUR 20 million in orders in the second quarter. And in full year -- half year figures, we are up even 61%, almost EUR 20 million. Now of course, these are great numbers in growth. But of course, our expectation is for the future to be on a different level and especially in orders during the Q3 and Q4, we expect to be to -- we strive for a much better figure. For the order backlog, it was about EUR 86 million in the end of Q2, out of which approximately EUR 50 million is expected to be able to be delivered still this year and taken into revenue. For the working capital and cash flow, so on the left-hand side here, you will see quite a nice move from down 34%. And that is, of course, a big chunk of that comes already during Q4 last year when there was a great job done by the company reducing the working capital and releasing cash to the operations. Now during Q1 and Q2, we have been able to keep the level and even improving still a bit. So that is great. We were able to -- on the right-hand side, you see the net cash flow from operations. So, in this quarter, we were able to release some cash from our operations, which is great. However, on the cumulative for the year, we're still a little bit behind. And here, of course, the Middle East and Asia, especially for the big jump from the Q4 or Q3 to today's situation, Kuwait and Middle East is a big explanation. The equity ratio is still relatively good, 36.2%. Gearing have gone up, however, to 91% during this period. And then if we look at the investment we have done, mainly this has to do with Kilpilahti, of course. And on the second quarter, we did EUR 4 million. And on full half year, it is close to EUR 10 million now. So that is basically our financial figures in a nutshell for this one. Of course, you have a much more information in the package that was sent out earlier. And that, I think, is you, Johan.

Thank you. So, the outlook and key focuses for H2. First of all, the guidance for the remaining -- or for the full year remains, as you can see in the dark box that will not be -- will be unchanged. Something about the assumptions then. The guidance is based on the existing backlog, order backlog, the known tenders that we have and then offers submitted and of course, the management's view on the market demand and the customer decision timeline. We are in the, let's say, stage of negotiating several significant equipment and medium-sized service contracts. But as I said, that the timing in respect to decision is something that is more blurry than that is -- I mean, a result of the geopolitical situation. Let's say, the revenue expected to be below comparison during -- during the comparison period during the third quarter and exceed clearly then during the final quarter. And this means that there is a strong focus on making sure that the accumulation of new orders in the third quarter will be realized. So that is basically the assumptions that we are basing our maintained guidance on. Then when talking about the opportunities and what is in our sales funnel, as I said, that the market and the demand for our services is there. That has not been changed. But then the decision-making point is something that we need to focus on and also that we -- that in some sense, is not -- is out of our reach in respect to how we can work on it. I'm very happy with the equipment sales and small service projects that now is something that we've been focusing on and making sure that our sales forces are focusing on closing deals and also that this is something that we can speed up in that sense. The medium-sized service projects and large projects, that's the negotiations, and that's something that we are a little bit more unclear in the decision timing regarding those cases. But our full funnel is something that we are very proud of and that is continuously growing, and we are getting a better grip on it the whole time. And that's part of the strategic work that we are also focusing on. Then to support the strategy, we have also decided to accelerate the efficiency initiatives throughout the company, making sure that we are -- as we've said that we will focus on certain areas. We will also make sure that our global sales force will be much more, let's say, aligned and then taking into account also our agents and distributors in making sure that we are globally present. But in respect to the larger cases, we are focusing on the focus areas that we highlighted in the strategy. But this is something that we will accelerate. We will look at our fixed costs and also the operational efficiency across the company. And we will come back to more details as we go along and tell you more about the achievements from this part. What we are targeting is EUR 8 million in annualized savings by end of '26 compared to '24 level. H2, sales and delivery, making sure that the revenue recognition will be efficient. And this is something that we are pushing in our bridgehead markets in the Middle East, Africa and South America, especially. Then this is then, of course, to secure the order intake in Q3, Q4 and then the revenue recognition as a result. And this will then -- what we've initialized here is put in place is also that we are looking at the deliveries and how to make sure that there are no stumbling blocks in making sure that the deliveries are happening at the right time and the right quality. Focusing on the efficiency initiatives and then also the cash flow that will continue. That is something that we have been very successful in, in respect to the focus on the cash flow, and that is something that we will continue to do as normal business. Then in respect to the circular oil production preparations, this is continuing, and we will come back to an update regarding the start-up of the production in the near future. So, this is the focuses for H2 2025. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you, Johan, and thank you, Nalle, also. Now we are ready to start the Q&A part of the session. And we have a couple of questions here already waiting for us and feel free to send more as we go along. So, the first question, let's take it from Thomas Westerholm, the analyst from Inderes. So, let's start with the question about Kilpilahti actually, the concept plant. So, about the construction and what is the reason behind the announced delay in the testing and installation? And also does this affect the cost level? What is our view on that?

We will come back to more details about that. But for sure, this is in respect to the testing of the process equipment. This is, let's say, in that sense, not -- this is a new technology, and the testing part has taken longer than what we expected. And this is something that now will push us a little bit further ahead. But we will come back to the more clear timing point in respect to the start-up of the oil production.

Yes. And then any comment there was also the other question about the potential cost impacts. Do we have a view on that at the moment or yet?

I think that this is also something that we need to come back to in that point. Of course, that a certain delay will have a cost impact, what is the level of it that is something.

As we go on. Okay. Then another question on the efficiency initiatives you now discussed also in your presentation. So, the potential impact on our business and capabilities. So, Thomas is asking, as you aim for EUR 8 million in savings, will this affect Lamor's sales capabilities or potential revenue capacity?

I would say that this has a wide impact on the company overall, but we will look through the cost base especially throughout the company and also making sure that the focus is in the strategy is supported well going forward. And that it's part of the strategy implementation process. I don't know if you want to --

No.

It's okay.

And as mentioned, we will get back to the initiatives and activities later on as they proceed. Then a question -- a final question actually about financing. So maybe this is for now. So, Thomas is asking, how much was your senior debt to EBITDA in Q2? And is this still in line with the covenants that we have?

Yes. So basically, we did not do as well as we had hoped in the result, even though we did better than last year. So, we came quite close to the covenants. So, we were 3.4 and plus, and the covenant is 3.5. So, we are quite close to it. So, in that respect, we did not break any covenants. Everything is fine, but we hope to improve it and not to come so close next time.

Definitely. Okay. actually, at the moment, those are the questions we have. So, I think that everything is then fairly clear. So, we look forward to talking to you again, and thank you for joining us today.

Thank you.

Thank you.